Lev Manovich Argues Media Categories Became Obsolete in Late 20th Century

Lev Manovich contends that by the final decades of the twentieth century, the concept of artistic mediums had lost its relevance due to cultural and technological shifts. Despite this obsolescence, museums, art schools, and funding bodies continue organizing their activities around traditional media classifications like painting, sculpture, and video. Manovich notes that no new framework for categorizing art has emerged to replace this outdated system. The persistence of media-based thinking occurs even though it fails to align with contemporary cultural realities. This analysis was published in October 2001 on ARTMargins Online, a platform for critical writing.